The invention relates to a baseball batting practice system allowing a baseball player to practice their swing without having to retrieve a ball.
When ever ball players practice swinging a bat at a ball off of a tee, you would always need an additional person to chase the hit ball or alternately, need a large net or the like to hit the ball into. Additionally, most tee devices used to hold baseballs for hitting, will usually break apart when contacted by accident. This presents an additional limitation of the known batting tees. Thus, the present invention is a significant improvement over the batting tees known in the art.
Several references show various baseball throwing machines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,396 to Huang discloses a baseball batter practice machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,708 to Prosser et al. Discloses a batting tee having a tee ball stand allowing for simulation of actual hitting conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,041 to White discloses a baseball practice stand used to improve practice standards. U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,685 to Cardieri discloses a batting tee.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.
It is an object of the invention to produce a baseball batting practice system allowing a baseball player to practice their swing without having to retrieve a ball including an inverted T-shaped stand including a lower horizontal base and an upper vertical support. The upper vertical support includes upper and lower segments. The upper segment is telescopically received within the lower segments. The upper segment is adjustable with respect to the lower segment to predetermined height intervals. The lower segment has an angled lower end. The angled lower end is hingedly coupled with the lower horizontal base. The lower horizontal base includes an angled wedge positioned rearwardly of the angled lower end in an abutting relationship therewith whereby the upper vertical support can only fall forwardly. The lower horizontal base has an elastic cord secured to a rear end thereof. The elastic cord has a free end securable to the lower horizontal base. A ball support cup is secured to and extends upwardly from the upper segment of the upper vertical support. The ball support cup supports a ball thereon. The ball has an eye bolt extending therethrough. The eye bolt has an outer ring positionable within the ball support cup. The outer ring has an elastic cord secured thereto. The elastic cord has a free end securable near the bottom of the upper vertical support.